Romona, those are all compelling theories, thanks for posting them. Unfortunately it's all based on the presumption that our first contact with ETI will only occur if they come to us. Who says that they have or will? How do we know that we won't go to them?
Maybe some acclimation is necessary before first contact can safely happen. I saw "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the idea that a highly intelligent species would not only leave a trail of clues for us to follow but also alter our minds and bodies is quite fantastic. To do this one would have to be very patient, one would have to plan ahead for millions of years to come, and one would have to accurately predict the outcome of these changes. That's pretty far fetched.
But it can't happen that way anyway, it never has in the past. Every time alien cultures have collided in our history blood has been shed. We can't plan ahead in order to prevent war, and neither could an alien species. Probably the best way to get through such an earth-shaking event as first contact would be to declare war on the aliens and hope neither species is destroyed before the enlightened beings among both species can make peace. Of course if we contact a species that has already contacted other ETI's then the situation would be different. But anyway, each of us is too independent as individuals to make first contact go smoothly for everyone involved.
And what if we contact a species that is not made up of individuals? What if we contact a one-of-a-kind ETI? Or a civilization where the concept of individuality does not exist? They/it may not be able to come to terms with 6 (10, 20) billion individuals. They or it may decide to break off all contact, or worse, try to destroy us.
What if we find a sentient species of molecule sized beings? Can we come to peaceful terms with a civilization of intelligent viruses? Or even communicate with them?
It'd be extremely difficult for any ET civilization to meet us without conflict. We can't be changed, we either have to change ourselves individually or wait for those who won't change to die. Neither would we undertake any project to change an alien civilization. They will have to be compatible with us from the start, or they will have to change themselves to be compatible, or we will have to force them out of our way to avoid contact.
While it may be possible to manipulate other civilizations from afar, it would be hard to do it completely unnoticed. Ideas planted by alien beings will feel alien to the civilization they're planted in and may be rejected. Any attempt to change the minds or bodies of aliens may eventually lead to a species that is no longer alien.
Now while it's possible that other alien species are more advanced than we are, I don't think it would make much difference. Humans, for all their prejudices and ignorances, learn and adapt very quickly. Any outside pressure to survive is provocation enough to advance our civilization by leaps and bounds. We can't help it, we've developed in a world where we must excel to survive, and anytime our survival is threatened we will always give everything to succeed. Any alien species that makes contact with us will discover soon after that we have become more advanced than they.
In short, there can be no possible protocol that will ensure that first contact will be peaceful. Every meeting will be unique, will be unlike anything we could imagine or prepare for. And we're bound to make many mistakes no matter what our intentions.
|